As of end-June 2012, the CASF Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN), an index for calculating the human impact on the planetary life support systems, stood at an astoundingly high level of 285. In other words, the anthropogenic impact on the living environment has now exceeded 2.85 times the planet’s diminishing carrying capacity.

“According to HIoN projections, our cities and population centers could become almost entirely unsustainable by as early as 2015.”